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LIZZIE had a present of a wild bluebird from her auntie, who caught it
when it was a wee baby bird. It was a beauty, and Lizzie was very happy
with her pet. One day she hung the cage on the veranda and saw how
pleased the little creature was. Pretty soon it burst into a beautiful
song, and she saw another bird near by, and that was a bluebird, too.
Lizzie fancied her bird looked sad when the other one flew away, and
that made her wonder if she had a right to keep a wild bird shut up in a
cage. “I wouldn’t like to be caught and shut up, I know,” thought
Lizzie, “and what I would not like to have done to me I ought not to do
even to a bird.” And so Lizzie wrote a letter to her auntie, asking if
she might set her dear bird free. Auntie said she might, and the very
next morning Lizzie opened the prison door and birdie went free, all
because a loving-hearted little girl was willing to do as she would like
to be done by.
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